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Anniversary
issue
Firstly, let me congratulate you and the team on your 12th
anniversary. The issue was a very comprehensive one, covering
practically every segment of the industry, and as such a useful
information source to vendors. Of course, one element missing
in the issue was a coverage of the R&D segment. This is
one sector that is an area of focus for most IT companies
in the country. That, along with bioinformatics and Web services
would have made a great story. Nonetheless, it was a great
effort.
Vandana Rao
Corporate
Communications Manager-West
IBM
India
I just got the anniversary issue of Express Computer. Excellent
work by the EC editorial team, I must say. I’m particularly
impressed by the depth of coverage.
Satinder Juneja,
HCL
Infosystems
Congratulations to the Express Computer team on your 12th
anniversary. We look forward to many more years of your success.
Sanjiv Mathur,
Microsoft India
Billing rates
Indian
IT companies have been raising a hue and cry over falling
billing rates for quite sometime now. While it certainly is
a cause for concern, continuing to blame the US slowdown and
the IT meltdown is not going to improve matters in any way.
We have to accept the fact that the IT industry is no longer
what it was even a year back. We cannot expect the same growth
rates we witnessed in the initial stages of growth. With the
sector maturing and competition on the increase, not just
from Indian companies but also from countries like Philippines,
China and Singapore as well, the high billing rates which
the Indian industry had taken for granted can no longer remain
so. Any industry, when it matures, has to go through a shakeout
phase. Only the ones who are quick enough to adapt to the
changing circumstances will survive and grow into stronger,
more fruitful entities.
Mohan Gidwani
New
Delhi
Videoconferencing
You
article on videoconferencing, which is currently being ballyhooed
as the next best thing to travelling, provided an overall
perspective of this alternate mode of real time
interactive one-on-one communication. Videoconferencing comes
as manna from heaven for corporates under pressure to cut
costs. Travelling accounts for a major portion of expenses
and cutting down on this front results in substantial savings
for us. Also, the recent spate of air crashes has left many
executives scared of travelling by air. Now, the only time
we might have to actually travel is for signing a deal or
for getting a firsthand experience of a company we are planning
to partner with or acquire. However, that said, the element
remains that videoconferencing, no matter how progressive,
can never replace the personal touch.
Michael Swami
Mumbai
Simputer: The fault line
This
is with reference to the article ‘Waiting for the Simputer’
(EC April 1, 2002). Must say that this was an excellent piece
of analysis on the key reasons, which have delayed the launch
of the Simputer. Though it is too early to put the ‘RIP’
sign on the Simputer, this problem has been a frequent occurrence
in India. Almost every year, we hear of indigenous products
and devices being developed by various companies or research
labs, but hardly ever see them in the market. It is not that
we Indians are not capable of developing new technologies
or products I think the key reason is that we are lack the
marketing expertise. The government too has taken a half-hearted
approach. Till we lose this lackadaisical approach towards
R&D, Indian software companies will continue to do low
end system integration jobs, which assure them stable revenues
instead of taking big risks and becoming global leaders.
Peter George
Mumbai
Corrigendum
In
the story ‘OICL launches the IT charge’ (EC March
18, 2002) the wrong photograph was carried as R C Jain, assistant
general manager-IT. The error is regretted.
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